Finishing treatment for felt and felt hat bodies



E. LOY 2,379,643 FINISHING TREATMENT FOR FELT AND FELT HAT BODIES July 3, 1945.

Original Filed Dec. 28, 1943 a CROWN 7-8 CDUNTERCLOCKWISE E w W m E M m w W R W K E K M N M L U L C m C 6 4 Z 5 3 kl N N N W w M M R R m .R J8J UM 2 A '7. 0 7 Z a m 4 1 9 o I 3 e A V W 5 a Z. 5 I M 5 ...m n m 4 5V R I. 3

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CROWN l-Z CROWN |'2 RIM EGONLOJ CROWN 5'4 CROWN l-2 msc L 5mm DISC 2 Mac I Patented July 3, 1945 UNITED s'mrssj PATENT OFFICE amass FINISHING TREATMENT FOR m'r AND mr HAT BODIES Egon Loy, New York. N. 1., assignor to Loy Corporatlon,

York( NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of New hex-28,

1943'. Divided and this application September 13, 1943, Serial No. 502,119

This invention relates to a method of treating the surface of felt by the piece or the like from animal or vegetable fibres and more particularly the surface of felt hat bodies which are made from hair, wool, or the like.

This application is a division of the application Ser. No. 387,380, filed April 8, 1941, now matured into U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,337,758, dated December 28, 1943.

It is an object of the presentv invention to chemically prepare such felt (piece or article) and to then subject the same to a mechanical treatment during which said felt under treatment is moved in apredetermined manner and direction relatively to mechanical means.

Another object of the present invention is to with their respective shark skin coverings arranged to be rotated in different directions.

provide means for imparting to the felt or felt hot body, while the same is being moved in a prescribed manner, a desired finishing treatment. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a very economical, practical and eillcient method for producing finishing effects on felt hat bodies by employment of mechanical means which cooperate with the hat bodies at various positionings thereof relatively to said means.

A still further object of the present invention resides in the provision of shark skin working surface or surfaces with which the work piece (felt or hat body) under treatment may be brought into engagement while said surface or surfaces and said work piece are being moved in predetermined directions.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following disclosure thereof together with the attached drawing which illustrates certain forms of embodiment of said invention. The said forms are shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention since the same has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although I :11; is to be understood that the various steps of ,;which the invention consists, can be variously arranged and organized, and thatthe invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of the instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational'view'of a hat body to be worked upon by a method according to the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate diagrammatically steps in the method and the positioning of the hat from the bath, extracted Figs. 4 to 6 show graphically stages of various surface treatments performed according tothe invention.

Fig. 7 shows a fragment of a shark skin covering employed in the invention.

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view of said covering taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Inorder to explain and describe the present invention in greater detail, as an example the treating and preparing of a felt hat body for and the finishing operation itself will now be set forth.

To this end, the hat body is first'subjected to a chemical bath containing a suitable dye or dyes and to which bath are added one half of one percent of a cleaning substance of sulphuric ester, such as for example known in the trade as Duponol WA flakes and further successively up to ten percent (10%) of the weightwf 'the hat bodies to be treated in said bath, a, trong acid having swelling producing ,qualities', such as sulphuric acid (H2804).

After the dying operation the bodies are stretched and then given a further treatment in a chemical bath containing an aqueous solution of an acid having swelling properties, such as for example sulphuric acid and a mixture of a cleansing substance, such as Duponol with a vegetable or plant oil, such as olive oil. It is well understood that the constituents of said bath are selected in sufiicient quantities so as to assure a homogeneous bath of desired strength. For example, a solution containing 16 gallons of chemically pure water, 300 com. sulphuric acid and 30 com. of a mixture of Duponol with said aforementioned olive oil may be used. Such bath may be increased in strength up to about four times the aforesaid example, depending particularly. on the quality of the felt material.

The latter bath is preferably heated up to approximately to F. and the hat bodies are then dipped into said bath in; say dozen lots until they are completely soaked with said bath liquid. The hat bodies are then withdrawn and thereafter air dried.

The desired result obtained in this pretreatment stage is that the fibres of the felt material are made waterproof and steamproof for the ensuing treatment steps.

Before the hat bodies are finally subjected to body relatively to the hat surface treating means 55 the finishing treatment, they are pounced, for

instance, with pouncing paper inside and outside, but to a greater degree inside than outside. The hat bodies are then covered with a flannel cloth which is previously moistened with hot water of about 140 to 150 F. and in this moistened medium and condition the hat bodies are left for several hours. This moistening step aids in the withdrawal of fibers from the felt material in the following operation.

In order to give the hat body the desired finish there are preferably employed a pair of rotatable devices, 20, 2| each of which may comprise a leverage arrangement 22, 2211, respectively, mounted on a base 3 and carrying a holder or support 28 for a hat body to be treated, which support may be swung against disc I and disc 2,

respectively. Each disc is respectively mounted for instance, on different axes 23, 23a which are rotatably driven in the direction of the arrows by any suitable means. Th surfaces of discs I and 2 are covered with different types of shark skin, one type of which 21 is exemplified in Figs. 7 and 8, Disc 2 is covered with a relatively fine ground or dog shark skin. Shark skin covering 21 comprises hook-shaped projections 2|, 24a, 24b, 240, etc.; shark skin covering 28 is similarly formed with projections. The hat body 25 is subjected to treatment by the shark skin surfaces with and/or against the nap of th hat body and with and/or against the direction of the teethlike projections of the respective shark skin coverings.

For thus p p se, the hat body is manually moved in an arcuate path, as indicated for example by Il-llia or II--I Ia in Fig. 1 relatively to rotating disc I or 2, as the case may be.

The following operations may be performed for each disc successively or otherwise: (1) Moving the hat body from the brim towards the brim (clockwise) in the opposite direction as the disc is rotating (counterclockwise), in which case both disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in same directions.

(2) Moving the hat body from the crown towards the brim (clockwise) in the opposite direction as the disc is rotating, in which case both disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in same directions.

(3) Moving the hat body from the brim toward the crown (counterclockwise) in the opposite direction as the disc is rotating, in which cas both the disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in opposite directions.

(4) Moving'the hat body from the crown toward the brim (counterclockwise) in the opposite direction as disc is rotating, in which case both the disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in opposite directions.

It has been found that disc I which carries the rough shark skin surface should rotate at the rate of between about 800 to 1500 revolutions per minute, whereas disc 2 carrying the fine shark skin covering should rotate at the rate of between about 3000 to 4000 revolutions per minute. The grain or projections of the shark skin on disc I are arranged to be presented to the hat body when disc I is rotating, in a direction indicated by Di, i. e. against said projections to bring about loosening or extraction of hairs or fibres out of the hat body under treatment. arrow D: indicates the direction of rotation 'of disc 2, carrying the fine shark skin covering, the latter being disposed on the disc 2 whereby the projections are arranged in a direction away from the hat body under treatment. This disc covering arrangement provides for the polishing step during the finishing operations.

Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically the stages of the positionings and movements of the hat body under treatment relatively to the rotating discs I and 2, respectively.

To obtain a velours finish the following steps should be preferably performed, taking in consideration that in Figs. 4 to 6 indices I2, and 5-6 designate movements of the hat body in clockwise direction, whereas indices 3-4 and 1-8 designate movements of the hat body in counter-clockwise direction.

Consequently the movement of the hat body, according to Fig. 4 is first performed on disc I from point It of the hat to II (brim to crown in clockwise direction) and then from Ila of the hat to Ila. (crownt'o brim of the hat in clockwise direction, see Fig. 1); further on disc I from point I2 or I! (brim to crown in counterclockwise direction) and then from point 13a to I2a. (crown to brim in counter-clockwise direction); again further on disc I and from point It to II (brim to crown in clockwise direction) and I to to Ila (crown to brim in clockwise direction); then further on disc 2 and from points I6 to I! (brim to crown in clockwise direction) and Ila to I6a (crown to brim in clockwise direc tion) then following up on disc I and from point It to is (brim to crown in counter-clockwise direction); and finally on disc 2 and from points 20 to 2I (brim to crown in counter-clockwise direction) and from 2Ia to 20: (crown to brim in counter-clockwise direction). It is to be understood that the aforementioned points I0, II; Ha, I to, etc., are positioned on the hat body and represent successively the extent (start and end, respectively) of the sweep of the path described by the hat body relatively to disc I or 2.

To complete the velours finish the conventional steps are followed, such as, carding, cleaping, blowing and boiling on a rough felt disc.

Similarly to produce a. soleil finish step in accordance with the diagram of Fig. 5 are performed, whereas an antilope finish is obtained by following up steps as indicated by the diagram of Fig. 6. In completing the soleil finish, the conventional steps are taken with employment of a felt-disc carrying a particular ointment thereon, cleaping, blowing, ironing and pressing. For the antilope finish the above steps according to the invention are followed up by conventional steps known in the art, such. as bouncing, presslng, etc.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the advantages of the process and article derived therefrom will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains; and while there has been described the principles of the process which may be considered to be the best embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the process described is merely illustraive and that such changes may be made as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent 18:

l. A method of applying a finishing treatment to the surface of felt, such as a felt hat body, which consists in moving said hat body with-its surface relatively to and against rotating means provided with shark skin covering, whereby to which consists in moving the surface of said hat body along its brim to the crown thereof and from the latter to the brim relatively to and against rotating means having respective shark skin coverings of diiferent nap, whereby a predetermined finishing pattern is produced on said hat surface.

4. A method of finish-treating the surface of felt, such as a felt hat body, which consists in conducting the hat body surface in an arcuate path between brim and crown to and fro against rotating shark skin covered means, whereby a predetermined finishing pattern is produced on said hat surface.

5. A method of finishing the surface of felt, such as a felt hat body, whichconsists in engaging the hat body surface while being turned between brim and crown thereof to and fro against rotating shark skin covered discs, whereby a predetermined flnishing pattern is produced on said hat surface.

EGON LOY. 

